One More Nail
by BingoZero
Summary: Baki sends the other two away, this was a lesson for Kankurou. It is time for him to learn about "field interrogation." Rated for mild torture.


Desolate and abandoned; the small mountain town was left in an even sadder state when a ninja skirmish had taken place. Building half collapsed and rotted out. Tall pines grew surrounding this village while gnarled weeds and shrubs filled it in. The air was clear and sounds echoed, there still felt like the clatter of blades was lingering after the battle was done.

A dozen ninja had tried to ambush Baki and his three students but found them difficult to surprise. Many of them died, a few had escaped. They left no trail to follow or signs of where they had entered. After these ninja's show of strength Baki paid no mind to the ones that ran away. His mind was on the one that didn't.

Baki had captured and knocked out one of the ninjas. He dragged this poor fellow inside one of the derelict houses with a high roof. From a main roof beam Baki hung a pole, about four feet in length. He then stripped off the ninja's shirt and removed all his weapons, and tied his arms to this pole, his legs were also tied together. The man hung by his arm, unconscious, with his feet barely touching the ground. He only wore his black pants and had pale skin, he might have been twenty.

The three students watched as Baki prepared this man, then he called to Temari and Gaara. He order these two to go set up a perimeter around the town and make sure that the other ninjas cannot enter this village undetected again. This wasn't a lesson for them. He then called to Kankurou. It was time for Kankurou to learn a lesson in "field interrogation."

Each of his students had their own... talents. Gaara may had been very advanced but his blood lust and independence didn't suit him for this kind of work. Temari had brutal strength from command of the elements but lacked the observation skills. No. Only one student was keen enough to have an eye for detail that was needed for this at hand. And with the Chuunin Exam in Konoha only five weeks away at least one would need sharp skills in acquiring information.

Kankurou approached with a bemused look on his painted face. Karasu draped over his shoulder like an incubus ready to pounce. Kankurou's face showed an idea of what was to come next, Baki could guess, Kankurou thought he was being called over to execute this man. Baki gave a stern look.

"Put Karasu down" Baki said, "It is our mission to enter the den of these ninjas and procure the 'item' that our customer wants. Kankurou, it is your job to find out where their base is from this man."

A confused eyebrow twitched at this order. Kankurou looked back at his sensei for clarification. Baki pointed to the man.

"It takes a clever type of ninja to interrogate a captured enemy, and on the field of battle the devices at hand will be very limited." Baki continued, "You need to find out what is more dear to this man then his comrades and their hide out. And quickly, given enough time this man will eventually tell you his whole life, but his friends won't wait."

Kankurou's face lit up with an evil light of understanding. He sets down Karasu in a corner then pulled out a kuni and approached the man. Baki steps in and slaps the blade out from Kankurou's hand.

"Fool! That kuni is poisonous! You are not to kill this man, but get the information from him! After you do, it is up to you whether or not to kill him." Baki scolded.

Kankurou scowled with aggravation. They both knew that all of Kankurou's weapons were poisonous, so what was he to use to interrogate him with? Baki's half masked face frowned with a demanding look. Kankurou looked at the suspended man, then at Karasu. A thought occurred.

Hidden in one of Karasu's panels was a small tool kit, just perfect for any quick repair. Kankurou brings out this small box and pulls out a hammer and walks up to the hanging man.

Kankurou places his hand a short distance away from the man's face and performs a small jutsu that feels like an electric shock to the man's nose. This startles the man awake, he grunts and tries to struggle but finds he is in binds. He swings his head as it is the only part of him unbound his mind racing for a solution.

"Good morning." Kankurou playfully begins, "Those restraints look very uncomfortable. If you tell me what I want to know I'll let you go. If you don't you may find yourself in an even more uncomfortable position."

The man presses his lips firmly together and steely, glares at Kankurou. Showing his most defiant face, even though he breathes in a rapid panic through his stinging nose.

Kankurou shows a brief smile before swinging the hammer against the man's side. The man lets out a screech from the pain of a broken rib. Suspended like he was made the pain worse. Breathing fast and heavy and eyes wild from agony.

"Oh, so you can talk?" Kankurou continues, "Where is your hide out located?"

With the mallet end, Kankurou pressed the hammer against the spot he had just struck. The man cries out.

"I won't talk! I won't tell you nothing! A ninja never betrays his team! You're better off killing me!" The man cackled between breaths.

Kankurou frowned. And began to repeatedly strike the man's chest and mid-section with the hammer. The man cried out with every strike.

"No! You'll wish you were dead, but unless you talk you'll be worse." Kankurou said with an angry face.

The man looked at Kankurou wearily and tried to hold the same defiant face again. Kankurou strikes his face with the hammer, smashing his cheek bone. Kankurou then grabs him by his hair, and looks the man in the eye. Kankurou's face looks like a deadly hawk.

"So you think you love your precious comrades more then saving your own skin, that you won't betray them over yourself!?" Kankurou glared, "But I don't believe that! I believe you love being a ninja more then your crappy comrades! That you want to die an honorable death, protecting them to be some 'hero'! But if you don't tell me where your team is holding up, I promise you, you won't die a honorable death! And you won't be a ninja anymore!"

Kankurou turned around and walked back towards Karasu and his repair kit. The man could barely see out of one eye but didn't like what what Kankurou had left him with.

"Wha... What are you going to do?" The man asked.

Baki chose the right student for the job. Kankurou's eyes spotted the man's lie. He could tell what was most precious to the man. Kankurou turned around holding the hammer and a small box. He then skaters the content of the box on a nearby table. They were nails.

"The most important thing to a ninja is their hands." Kankurou said as he pulled the poll that the man was hanging from closer to himself, "Without their hands, then they are not a ninja."

Kankurou held the other man's hand in place as he drove the nail into it. The man cried out as his hand became pinned onto the beam he was suspended from.

"I've heard that you can drive twenty nails into a person's hand before they bleed to death, but it only takes about six to render their hand useless." Kankurou moves to the other side and nails the other hand down. "Well now, that's one each. Only five each more before you are no longer useful as a ninja."

"Which hand do you want to lose first?" Kankurou asked, "Maybe the right?" Kankurou looked studious at the right hand. "No. You don't use that hand anyways, lets start with the left hand."

Kankurou pounds the nails into the man's left hand and counts as he does.

"Two."

"Three."

"Four."

"Five."

With the sixth nail pressing on the man's bloody hand he swings his head in a crazed agony.

"NO! STOP! PLEASE, GOD, DON'T DESTROY MY HANDS!!!!" The man screams.

Kankurou pauses.

"Alright... I'll talk... Our base is a mile North West of this village... In the abandoned Teiboku Manor..." The man said sobbing, "Don't break my hands anymore! Oh god..."

Kankurou turns and looks at Baki with a proud smile. He then walks over and cuts down the man. The man hits the floor hard, the ropes that bound him now slacked. His hands still nailed to the poll.

"Good work. Lets gather the others and get moving." Baki said.

The two left the poor man, broken, nailed to the beam in the abandoned rotting house. After a short distance they met with the other two ninjas.

"You two are to follow Kankurou, he knows the way to get to their base." Baki told Temari and Gaara.

Baki followed a short distance as he let Kankurou lead. This is the new team formation. When the three work independently from Baki, Kankurou will lead with Gaara and Temari guarding his flanks. Soon they will be carrying on missions without Baki's guidance. He was proud to see them grow as a team.

mMm

**This one shot that takes place before the sand siblings are introduced in the show. Perhaps the B rank mission that Gaara comes back from unscathed, that was alluded to.**


End file.
